


lifesaver

by hwangjanim



Series: enneads [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: M/M, Platonic Love, Romantic love, Scythe AU, Storytelling, Time Travel, knowing what to do with forever, minho does illegal things because he's a softie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:13:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22511542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hwangjanim/pseuds/hwangjanim
Summary: “Have you ever saved a life when you were meant to take it away? Given someone a second chance?”Minho smiled to himself.“You see, Hwang, some people know what to do with forever.”-Lee Minho has spent his life learning how to take the lives of the now immortal human race, because he, like all other reapers, firmly believes that no one should live forever. He never expected to make exceptions, and he expected having to recall them even less, but when he takes on an apprentice who asks too many questions, he thinks back to the eight among millions that he chose to be a lifesaver for.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Woojin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Felix/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Everyone, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Series: enneads [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588453
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	lifesaver

**Author's Note:**

> hello friends!  
> this is the second part of the project I've been working on! although fragments is still in progress, I really want to be posting the first part of each of the works on the first of each month until September! I will keep working on the others while new ones are being uploaded and that may be either the coolest thing I've ever done or the worst decision I've ever made, but alas, that's how I'm laying it out.  
> the premise of this work, minho's story, is loosely based on Neal Shusterman's "Arc of a Scythe" series, so if you enjoy this kind of storyline, I definitely recommend giving that a read!  
> I hope 2020, although it has been very chaotic so far, is treating you all well, and please remember to stay warm, safe and healthy! happy reading! xo

“I don’t want, need, or _want_ an apprentice.” 

“You said “want” twice.” 

“A point is being made!” 

Lee Minho felt like he was fighting a losing battle. His boss, although it felt odd to think of Wonpil that way (he was only a century or two older than him, after all) was adamant. Whether he liked it or not, Minho would have to take on an apprentice. 

“You know everyone has to take one on sooner or later. Sooner is usually better than later. Come on, just get it over with!” 

He made a convincing argument; Minho did like uncomfortable inconveniences being over with. 

He thinks. He ponders. He sighs. 

“Fine.”

Wonpil lets out a breath of relief, immediately shoving a giant binder that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere into Minho’s hands. 

“Here’s everything you need to know about her. Read through this tonight and I’ll introduce you tomorrow. She’ll start straight away and —“

“Are you on speed? Can you take a damn breath please, I’m still trying to comprehend the size of this binder,” Minho struggled to flip through the pages, barely reading anything but the name at the top of the first page. 

_Hwang Yeji._

“Be in early tomorrow. I think it would be nice for you guys to have a little bit of time to get to know each other before she formally starts,” Wonpil finished off, an almost smug smile on his face. 

Minho imagined he was satisfied with himself for convincing one of his most stubborn proteges to follow his generally unrealistic schedule. Finishing school, an apprenticeship, taking on lower-profile cases (old age, illness), and finally, becoming a full-fledged reaper who takes on his own apprentices and helps them follow the same path. 

Still, most reapers got to deviate at least a little, try a different career path or take a two-decade trip to Cabo without their scythes anywhere in sight, but being trained by Kim Wonpil, the best in the business, meant that was _not_ an option. Not that Minho wanted it to be. He'd just hoped he’d have a year or two after getting his golden scythe to _breathe_ before having to teach some moody teen who already thought they knew everything how to do his job. 

He sighed, “How early?” 

“An hour should be enough,” Wonpil said absentmindedly, flipping through a binder of his own that Minho had, once again, not seen appear in his hands. He rolled his eyes subtly, the gesture going unnoticed as Wonpil turned to leave the room giving a distracted wave before the door clicked shut behind him. 

Once he was alone, Minho let himself groan out loud, falling back into his work chair with the binder still in his hands. He smacked it down onto his desk and flipped it open. 

“Okay, Hwang Yeji,” he said to himself, "Who _are_ you?” 

***

“Morning, Mr. Lee!” 

Minho looked around, wondering who Mr. Lee could be. As far as he knew, he was the only Lee in the office, so who was this bodiless voice talking to? 

His eyes fell on a grinning girl standing right by his office door, with a cup of coffee and a bronze tinted scythe. She looked somehow familiar. 

_Of course_ she did. Yeji looked exactly like the picture in her file that Minho had spared a glance at while looking through her lengthy list of credentials. She seemed friendly and sweet and way too chipper for seven in the morning. 

“Morning. I’m guessing you're Yeji?” 

“Yes, sir! Coffee?” she hands him the cup and he takes it, pleasantly surprised at the gesture. 

“Thank you,” maybe having an apprentice won’t be as bad as he expected it to be. He opened the door to his office, ushering her in first and closing the door behind him. Her eyes widened at the sight of the binder that still rested on Minho’s desk. 

“Is that my file?” 

“Yes.” 

“Can I read it?”

“No.” 

“Why?” 

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” 

“If you don’t ask the questions, you don’t get answers,” Yeji retorted with a confident smile. 

“Wonderful way of stating the obvious.” 

“You asked, sir.” 

Minho narrowed his eyes at the grinning girl. 

“Hwang.”

“Yes, sir?” 

“Why are you here?” 

“To learn, sir. Hence the questions,” her response, although obvious, wasn’t rude or insolent in any way. She seemed too kind for that.

“You’re aware of what this apprenticeship entails, right?” 

Yeji nodded: “Yes, sir.” 

Minho narrowed his eyes. Yeji seemed perfectly capable, and quite intelligent, with just enough empathy to hate the job she was about to take on. No reaper should _want_ to reap, Minho thought, and although she seemed eager to learn, he doubted she would be as excited for the practice of it as she was for its theory.

Then again, she probably didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Reapers never did. 

Yeji looked around the office, her eyes filled with curiosity as they lingered on the folders neatly lined up on the several shelves that filled three out of four walls in Minho’s office. Some of them were labelled, sorted by decades, while others were left blank, ready to be filled with information on future jobs. 

“You’ve worked a lot.”

Minho nodded, his eyes following her as she took one of the folders off the shelf and began to flip through it. 

She didn’t ask. He didn’t mind.

“How come you’re only taking on an apprentice now?” 

“I just got my golden scythe a few months ago,” Minho responded, surprisingly unbothered by her curiosity. Usually someone digging through his things without asking and asking a dozen questions in the space of five minutes would irritate him to no end, but something about Yeji was different. He felt almost… Protective of her. 

She turned around, her eyes widened, her mouth shaped into a soft “o": “But you’ve done so much. How did you—“

“Kim Wonpil.” 

Yeji closed her mouth and nodded, carefully placing the folder back onto the shelf, exactly where it belonged.

Minho enjoyed the company of people who could pay attention to such details.

The younger girl pulled out the chair across from Minho’s and sat down, leaning slightly forward, as if she was about to say something no one else was allowed to hear. 

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Would anything stop you?” 

Yeji shook her head. 

"Have you ever saved a life when you were meant to take it away? Given someone a second chance?”

Minho smiled to himself. 

“You see, Hwang, some people know what to do with forever.” 

The corner of Yeji’s mouth turned slightly upwards at this, and she leaned forward, leaning on her elbows and placing her chin in her palms.

“Would you tell me about them? The people you thought deserved more time?” 

Minho was slightly taken aback. He didn’t exactly expect his new apprentice to ask questions like that. She was here to learn about the job, and practically asking him to tell her about times he _didn’t_ do it. Which was the opposite of what she should have been asking, really.

Not to mention it was also _very_ illegal of him to do.

Yeji was still looking at him, and he realised his silence must have been confusing, if not worrying. Technically speaking, she was making a big assumption: he’d never told her he’d saved anyone. 

Apparently the implication was enough for Yeji to understand exactly what he meant.

Minho sighed and gave a solemn nod. The alarm that should have been going off in his head at the thought of disclosing his rule-breaking, law-evading past to someone he’d just met was surprisingly silent, and he trusted it to function when necessary. The silence had to mean Yeji was trustworthy enough, and worthy enough, to hear the stories she was asking him to tell. 

“I can tell you. But not during work hours,” he raised an eyebrow.

Yeji chuckled and nodded: “Of course not, sir.” 

“And you can’t tell _anyone_. I mean that. It could get both of us in serious trouble.” 

Yeji nodded again, the smile on her face fading slightly. 

“Keep in mind, this is strictly for the purposes of your education. This is how you learn what _not_ to do.” 

Another nod. 

“We’ll start tonight,” Minho stood up, “Meet me on the roof at 8. Bring snacks. And now,” he motioned for Yeji to follow him as he opened the door, “We get to work."


End file.
